Skeleton Keys
by Machelix Mexilhann
Summary: This is my take on Kingdom Hearts, starting a year after Kingdom Hearts 2 and two months after my previous story in the series, A Ghost of a Chance. However, time seems to be repeating itself...
1. Disney Dreams

**Chapter ****I****: Disney Dreams**

_**December 26, 2003.**_ The heavy snowfall swirled in the darkness outside, more intense this year than any other I had yet to witness or can actually recall. Access outside was barred by at least half a foot of snow right outside any exit we had around the house, save the windows. However, we were all content with staying indoors, since we had Christmas the day before and the fact that it was night out now. All of my siblings were off in their own little worlds, playing with their newly acquired toys and making merry of the contained environment.

I was downstairs, still in my new pajamas and slippers, playing some of the new N64 games that I had acquired the day before. This game was of no particular value in this story, so I chose not to disclose what it was.

My pestilent brother (the annoying kind, not the diseased kind; unless stupidity is a disease) came rushing down the stairs, his new stuffed animal in his hands. "We're planning on having a movie week since we're snowed in," he told me. "Care to join us?"

I paused my game, turned to him, and asked in reply, "What movie are you planning on watching? It had better not be any of those stinkin' girly movies, or else I'm not going."

"No, it's just a Disney one. The Mickey Mouse movie we got."

"Oh, okay, then." I saved my game, turned it off, and joined my brother as we journeyed upstairs.

Everyone else was gathered around the television, my dad at the VCR, the premiere tape in his hands. He slipped the tape in and pressed play, sitting down on the couch by the wall between two of my siblings.

This movie was about King Mickey and a quest he goes on with his two trusted servants, Donald the Mage and Captain Goofy, in order to rid the land of the evil outlaw Pete. It was a quaint movie with its funny points and an enjoyable action scene between Mickey and Pete along with plenty of drama, but it was over momentarily soon.

As soon as the credits started, I got up from my seat and wandered upstairs through the maze of drowsy bodies. It was time for a good night's sleep of my own in my own bed. The floor was too itchy for me. As soon as I came to the ladder to my bed, I kicked off my slippers, climbed up the ladder, and drew the blankets around me. As my blankets heated up, I slowly fell asleep.

I dreamed of resting on a beach in a tropical oasis. The sun was warm on my skin, which had nothing on except a swimsuit. I watched as waves lazily lapped up on the sand no matter how far down the beach you went, inviting anyone to venture into them. A pair of goggles was on my head, and a boogey board was planted in the sand next to my towel. Palm trees provided shade from behind me in thick sheets. Everything seemed perfect for a beachgoer like me.

However, my body felt restless, yearning for something it didn't have. It's like that strange feeling of being hungry for peace and tranquility but only having vengeance to satisfy it with. It didn't fit me well, and it was distracting me from enjoying myself on the beach. I got up from my towel and paced down the beach, trying to see if the weird feeling would wear off. But the more I walked, the more restless I felt.

As I turned around to go back to my towel, I caught a glimpse of a raft floating out in the ocean. A single passenger, unconscious, was lying down on the raft. I slipped on my goggles and ran towards the ocean, leaving all of my other cares behind with each grain of sand I kicked up. I tore through the water and started to swim towards the raft. With the current pulling the raft in and my natural swimming ability, I reached the raft fairly easily. Inside was a solitary boy about my age in a yellow tank top, blue pants, and white sneakers on his feet. His hair was snow white and slicked down, but it didn't look greasy. In his hand was a magician's staff of some sort.

I used the current to push the raft and the boy to shore. I shook him gently to see if he would wake up, but he failed to respond. A little agitated, I shook him a little more vigorously. He spat a little salt water and sat straight up. He looked around at his surroundings and turned to me. "Who are you, and where am I?" he asked.

"I am Michael Heilmann, but I don't rightfully know where I am," I replied. "Are you okay…er…?"

"Riku. And no, no I'm not." Riku held up his staff. "This relic has placed a curse on me, a dire curse that cannot be removed by ordinary means." He tore apart his tank top, exposing his chest. A strange pattern was tattooed there. It was a black heart with an arrow pointing down from the point of it and arrows branching off of the main ones to form a cross. The whole thing was outlined in red with a red "X" over the heart. The entire pattern was right over his real heart. "It's the curse of darkness."

I stared at the staff, the energy lying within seeming to ease the pain within me, calling me to it. "How did you get that?" I asked Riku.

"I was given it by a mysterious sorceress from a far off land. Her name was Maleficent of Hollow Bastion."

"I've heard that name before. I thought she was killed a long time ago."

"What are you talking about?" Riku replied. "She's been living for the past thousand years. I know I should have stayed away from her, but only she could have helped my town…"

"What are _you _talking about? What could have been so bad that you had to call upon that witch?"

"Evil demons were attacking my town, cursing them as I was cursed and dispersing their spirits as well as the population. I went to Maleficent, since she knows the secret to controlling such beasts, and she gave me this staff. I successfully drove off the shadow creatures with it. However, the following day, I found this mark on me. The staff had turned against me; Maleficent had tricked me! I sailed away, far away, from my island in order to find a way to cure this evil within me. A storm struck my raft, and the next thing I know, here I am."

"May I see the staff?"

Riku held it up and said, "Sure, but be careful. It may still contain Maleficent's dark magic."

I took the staff in my hand. It was a simple staff with a glass ball at the end of a wooden pole, held secure by a wooden "cage" around it. The grip was a rigid portion of the staff near the middle. It looked absolutely stunning. Instantly, my restless body calmed down. This rod held a clue to what I desired without a doubt. It felt like I had found myself.

The orb at the end of the rod swirled with a black fog as I gazed into it, and the sky did likewise. I hadn't even done anything! From in front of us in the forest, a tree splintered. A quake shook the sand. Something was in the forest, something big. Another tree splintered with another quake. A flock of birds flew out from the forest, afraid of getting in the monster's path. A tree flew out of the forest with the third quake, and we could both see a clearing form with the fourth one. When the creature stepped on the beach, we instantly looked up into the glowing red eyes of a five-story behemoth! This humanoid giant was a solid black, except for the hole in its stomach shaped like a heart.

"That's the leader of the dark creatures that attacked my home, Darkside!" Riku gasped, his mouth agape. "It's been summoned here!"

The beast's red eyes glared at the staff in my hand and reached for me. A low grunt echoed forth as it leaned in towards me. When its hand got within a foot of me, I instinctively swung the staff at it. The orb of the staff shattered against the tough skin of Darkside. It pulled its hand back in pain, but it was caught in a dark magic snare of some kind. The other end of this snare was still attached to the staff in my hand! Darkside tried to pull its hand free, but the snare was just too strong. It was pulled off of the ground and into the staff as if it had been a tiger kitten!

Its dark presence coursed down the length of the staff until it struck my hand. As the dark matter came into contact with my arm, it disappeared into my skin! My whole body became full of it, freezing me completely and making me feel extremely ill. Riku looked on helplessly as my whole body turned blacker, the dark rays pouring from every pore on my body and taking me over, changing me inside as well as out. I clutched my heart, hoping to still feel it beating despite the immensely searing pain all of this power was causing me, but I felt nothing! I closed my eyes and let out a scream of solid terror.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer a beachgoer. I was in my new pajamas again, sitting bolt upright in my bed. My breathing was rapid, as if I had just run a mile. I also felt somewhat dizzy, that dream taking a real toll on my brain. I put my hand back on my heart, and wheezed a sigh of relief as I felt the _thump-thump_, _thump-thump _return to its normal beat. I looked at my alarm clock, but the time only read 2:46; it was still in the evening. I shook the weird yet terrifying dream out of my head and put it on the pillow again. I just hoped that I wouldn't have another nightmare like that, or else sleep would be impossible.

I woke up in front of the doors to a bustling town of some kind, covered in flashing lights. Neon arrows were pointing every which way in no particular pattern on a neon sign with the words "Traverse Town" right above me. I wandered aimlessly through the doors into the town, looking for something to pique my interest.

The sign outside betrayed the personality of the town inside. There was hardly anybody around, and those that were appeared to be in some kind of hurry. The buildings were all made out of lack-luster red bricks, with hardly any light to go by. I could hear a horn off in the distance cranking out a soft, dreary tune, and this was the only thing I liked about this town.

I only stopped when I caught sight of two characters sitting on a bench right outside of one of the shops. One was garbed in blue and holding a blue staff with a witch's hat at the end. The other one was a taller stiff carrying a shield and wearing a green shirt, orange pants, and matching hat. The taller one was the only one out of them who wore shoes, and these were the size of basketball sneakers. They were Donald Duck and Goofy from the movie I saw that day! They both appeared to be really down about something. I walked over to them and asked, "What's got you two so down in the dumps?"

"We lost someone, someone important," Goofy replied. "A bunch of those Heartless beings came into our castle and kidnapped the king of Disney Castle, King Mickey."

"They demolished our guards and even got past us," Donald added. "We think that he was taken here, but we haven't been able to find him anywhere."

"Can you help us?"

I looked at their dismal faces and couldn't help feeling sorry for them. I wanted to help them, but I didn't have anything to offer them. If I only had a weapon…

"If you need a weapon," Goofy piped up, as if divining my thoughts, "you could go to Leon, the blacksmith of this town. He's still got an order for me, but if we tell him you're fighting the Heartless-"

"In that case, sure, I'll help you guys. Besides, I'm looking for something as well."

"What would that be?" Donald asked skeptically.

I unraveled one of my sleeves and revealed a mark completely identical to the sign that Riku had in my dream. It was on the same place where Darkside entered my body, the sign of the Heartless's possession.

"You have the mark of the Heartless!" Goofy exclaimed.

"You're with those vile creatures that attacked Disney Castle!" Donald accused.

"No, no I'm not! I was attacked by a Heartless, a huge one called Darkside. My only weapon at the time, a magic staff, shattered against the hide of that behemoth and fused it within me. I'm looking for a way to reverse the process."

Goofy nodded his head. "Now that explains everything."

"Does it?" Donald asked him. "He could be a spy sent by the true ringleader of the Heartless to find and capture us, too. After all, he does have the mark of the Heartless."

I was getting a little impatient with these two. "What do I have to do to prove myself to you two?"

"Well," Goofy started, "there _is_ a really big Heartless around here that would pose a convincing challenge."

"Defeat it, and we'll believe you and follow you on your journeys; besides, we're wasting our time sitting around here, and maybe we could find the king along the way as well," concluded Donald.

"You two have a deal. Now, where is this 'Leon' you were talking about?"

"Just down the road and to your left. Here, we'll direct you." Donald and Goofy jumped up and took one of my arms in one of theirs, leading me back down the streets of Traverse Town. We must have looked pretty ridiculous, a duck, a lanky dog, and I walking down an empty street going who-knows-where.

Just like Goofy said, the blacksmith was down the road until we got to the fork in the road and down at the end of the road to the left. As we approached, the sound of pounding metal became more distinct. The man working the forge was definitely older than me, maybe in his early twenties. He had spiky brown hair and wore a black jean vest over a white shirt. His pants were black jeans, also. He was busy working on a long sword for the Disney guard, by the looks of it. It was a superb weapon with an excellent luster and a three ring Mickey emblem as the pommel.

He turned from the sword as he caught sight of us approaching. "Ah, Goofy," he said. "Here to pick up those blades you asked for? I'm not quite done making them yet."

"This isn't royal business," Goofy replied. "Well, technically it is, but it isn't about the swords. Wait, that's not right either."

"What he means to say is that we need a sword for this person," Donald said, slightly impatiently. He shoved me forward into plain sight.

Leon looked perplexed as he looked at me. "What's so special about this kid?"

"He's planning to take out the Guard Armor, a-hyuck!"

"What!? This kid's planning on going toe to toe with that Heartless bully without a weapon? Here, come with me." Leon forcefully took me by the arm and led me into his shop. Goofy and Donald followed after us.

In Leon's backroom, we found more swords than we could ever care to count. Cutlasses, broadswords, longswords, katanas… any sword imaginable was either resting on a rack, hanging on the wall, or strewn across the floor in a heap. Leon led me to a particular sword in a glass case in the corner. Inside was a sparkling turquoise sword hot off of the forges. Leon took off the glass case, took the sword from the support and handed it to me.

Leon gazed at the sword in my hand wistfully and said, "I call this sword 'Ethereal Light.' It's completely free of charge for using it against the Heartless."

"I thank you for it," I replied with a bow, taking the blade. I beckoned to Donald and Goofy to follow, and we walked out of Leon's shop.

"Now, where is this 'Guard Armor' Heartless that you guys were talking about?"

"It's down the road and back down where we came from," Goofy replied. "It only comes out at the church there, and only when the bells toll midnight."

"Why at a church?"

"It wants to show that it's an unholy demon by defiling the church with its presence, we guess," Donald answered.

"Ah, well, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can send it weeping all the way home to its mom." We quickened our pace down the street, rushing past people getting to their homes. As we progressed, house doors were being slammed shut and windows were being reinforced with wooden supports. I stared at these arcane actions as we got closer to the clearing with the church in the center of it.

As we approached the door of the church, the bell rang out through the town. The sound of slamming doors reverberated back from the deserted streets of Traverse Town. We continued onward, opening the door with a grating '_creeeeaaaak_.' We stepped inside, into the cold, dusty room of the church's compact interior. A gust of wind from the dark emptiness caught the door and slammed it shut. Apparently we were expected. I didn't know what would be lurking the halls of this church at this time of night, but I frankly didn't care. Anything that dared show its face here would face my blade's sting. The bell tolled a second time.

Our feet caused the floorboards below us to creak eerily. Strangely, they creaked above our heads as well. Dust was loosed from the rafters above us, falling on our heads. A particularly heavy step brought a large amount of dust right on Donald.

"BWAAAACK! I can't take this anymore!" Donald screamed as he furiously rubbed the dust out of his eyes. He pointed his wand at the spot above him and yelled, "Fire!" A fireball shot from the wand and caught the ceiling above us on fire! Whatever was above us was too heavy to be supported by the burning planks and fell through, bringing the burning wood down with it. A dust cloud was kicked up and enshrouded our guest.

"Allow me to shed a little light on the situation," I offered. I swung my sword around like a fan blade, blowing away the dust and putting out what was left of the fire. What I revealed was a black insect-like creature, hunched over, but still no taller than Donald. It stared at us blankly with two yellow eyes.

"It's only a shadow Heartless," Goofy said with a sigh of relief. "They aren't very tough."

Another pair of yellow eyes loomed out from the darkened hole in the ceiling. Another pair soon joined these, followed by another, and yet another. One of these pairs of eyes broke from the mass grouping of the others and struck the floor, joining its partner. All of the others slid along the ceiling, to the walls, and to the woodpile to join the other two shadows. There had to be at least twenty strong gathered there!

Goofy gulped at this sight and added, "Unless they attack in droves."

One of the shadows charged me, its hands reaching for my chest. I intercepted this by whacking the little bugger square in the face, splitting it in two. "Back off, you little punk," I growled to it as it dissolved into the darkness.

Several more of them came, all with the same intent: to get at my chest. I didn't know what they wanted, but I deflected their attacks with a whirlwind slash from my blade. Some needed more than one slash to do in, but all of them disappeared sooner or later.

"Anything else? I'm just getting warmed up," I told my companions with a chuckle. "By the way, where is that Guard Armor you two were blathering on about?"

A huge quake shook the church as if in response, loosing more dust onto us. Something big was up there, really big. Another shake brought down a large, purple metal shoe from the rafters above. It was so big I could have used it for a washing machine! The other shoe in this pair fell with another splinter of wood.

I slowly turned around to face Donald and Goofy, a hysterical grimace on my face. "This is Guard Armor? A pair of big shoes?" I busted up into a laughing fit. I even rolled on the dirty floor in my hysteria, although I was perplexed why neither Donald nor Goofy was joining me.

A third metallic mass broke through the ceiling; its landing threw me to my feet. I stopped laughing and stared into the black, colorless eyes of the new creature that stood before me. It was compromised of the two purple feet at the base of a purple concave cylinder with an upraised rim to contain its spherical head, and two likewise arms to keep its clawed hands connected to it. The symbol of the Heartless was clearly visible on the creature's chest, right below its helm-like head.

"Okay, that poses a little more challenge." I held up my sword in a battle stance, awaiting the demon's first move. It obliged by pointing its clawed arm and firing off its hand like a cannonball at me! I leapt up and performed a flip in mid-air, slashing a jagged line on the gauntlet as it passed under me. Thrown out of its flight path, the claws of the armored hand dug into the wood of the church floor right between Donald and Goofy.

As I stared haughtily at my handiwork, I felt a sharp pain in my back, a blindingly piercing pain. The tip of a purple point was poking out from my ribcage. I thrust my sword in an arch over my head and pierced metal. Guard Armor had fired its other gauntlet at me! I angrily ripped the claws out of my back and brought my sword around again, the gauntlet still attached.

Between two of the thing's fingers a heart-shaped object glowed with varying colors. Half of it was a pitch black with no luster at all. The other was just the opposite with a crystalline ruby luster. All four of us stared at the object with amazed wide eyes. "What _is_ that?" I asked myself.

"It's your heart," Donald replied. His eyes never left the object.

All of a sudden, a wiry hand the same color as the dark half of the object tore from my wounds. It shot out and wrapped its pencil-thin fingers around the heart. It jerked the heart free of the Guard Armor's grasp and yanked it back into me. "Okay, that was interesting."

Donald pointed his wand at me and yelled, "Cure!" Green magic wrapped around my wounds, sealing them shut. Not even a scar was left! The blood was washed away as well.

I thanked Donald for the medical treatment and turned my attention back to Guard Armor, or at least the gauntlet still on my sword. A smile curled my lips as I thought of a plan. I quickly turned around, heaving my laden sword with me. I stopped abruptly facing Guard Armor and threw the gauntlet off my sword and back at it. The hand struck the Heartless full in the head, knocking it clean off.

"Watch out!" Goofy shouted. He ran up to me and shoved me into one of the pews with his shield.

"What was that for?" I asked him.

"Well, it was either you or the floor." He pointed behind him to the aisle. All of the planks were torn up in a straight line the whole way down. At the end of this shattered aisle, Guard Armor was putting itself back together. Realizing what happened, I sheepishly stood up and dusted the both of us off.

After sending Goofy off to rejoin Donald, I stood before Guard Armor. We both knew what we were dealing with now, so this next round would decide the fight. Guard Armor pointed its arms at me again, ready to fire. Before it could, I leapt up and slashed at the Heartless symbol emblazed on its chest. With its weak spot damaged, Guard Armor fell apart, clanking together in a heap. I took this opportunity and hacked apart both of the Heartless's arms until they were nothing except piles of scrap metal.

Guard Armor shook off the shock and reconstructed itself as much as it could, although it looked slenderer without its arms. Even so, it was determined to defeat me. Its washing machine feet rushed from the main body like a pair of clumsy rhinos right at me. As they approached, I skewered the first one right on the blade of my sword using its own momentum. I used the shoe to pound the second one right into the broken wood and the exposed dirt of the floor.

Guard Armor, being nothing more than its main body and head, started hopping at me in a mad frenzy. It shattered anything in its path, whether it was the pews, the broken bits of its arms, or its shoe. I backed up in order to get a good angle and swung my sword at this menace, releasing the shoe. It broke through the metal body of the rampaging Guard Armor and even shattered the stained glass window behind it.

This attack was just too much for the Heartless. Its head fell off its shoulders and stuck in the ground. The rest of it sank into the shadows of the church cast by the shimmering moonlight that now shone in through the broken window.

The head also sank into the darkness, but it left something in its wake. It left another one of those heart-shaped objects, but this one was a solid ruby-colored one that shone brilliantly. Why this Heartless actually had a heart was beyond me, but I was too amazed to linger on that thought long. Curiously, I grabbed it. When I did, a bright flash lit up the church completely, blinding me. I closed my eyes to avoid the brightness, the painful light.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back again in my own room again. The sun was shining through the window, a morning light amplified by the snow reflecting some of the light back into my room. My clock read 8:21. I shook my head to try to wake myself up, to shake the weird dreams of the previous night out of my head. I crawled out of bed, stepped down the stepladder, and into my slippers. I trudged out the door and down the hallway, a weird annoyance in my shoe bugging my foot the entire time.


	2. The Strange Visitor

**Chapter ****II****: The Strange Visitor**

Scenes of my dreams from that night passed on a screen in the middle of a hexagonal table within a dark room. Not a single bright light shone in this room, except for the screen and the glint of the evil eyes watching it. Several beings surrounded the table, contemplating what they were seeing and making secret plans (as well as wagers on the outcome, apparently).

"He's good, as I had told you he'd be," one of the beings, a pirate, said.

"You never told us that," shot back the second, a wizard.

"Of course I did. I even bet you three sapphires on the boy. Now pay up!" The wizard groaned and handed over the jewels.

"Will you two stop making complete clownfish out of yourselves?" growled the third being, a half-woman, half-octopus mermaid. "You're making us look bad, and not in the evil way."

The fourth being, a dark-clad stranger with a flickering hairstyle, chuckled and replied, "You don't need any help there." The other three present, except for the mermaid, joined him in a round of laughter.

A fifth figure joined them, a tall, enchanting, and darker-clad sorceress carrying a long magic staff. "Time to get serious," she said. She stared at the picture of me on the screen and said, "This new discovery could put our plans on ice if left unchecked. We must find a way to subdue it before we end up like that feeble Heartless. I have a plan that involves the implementing of that heart of his to our advantage, as well as the heart of one of our pawns. Oogie Boogie, see to it that our prisoner is properly dealt with."

"By your command, boss," he replied. He stood up and walked away from the table on two stumpy legs.

"We all need to be on our toes. Anyone with a heart like that is incredibly resilient to the lure of darkness. We'll need brute force to defeat him, or just another kind of lure. Our pawn will find out what that should be. As for the rest of you, go back to your business and prepare your schemes. We cannot allow this meddler any allies other than those two royal fools." She turned on her heels and walked away from the table, as did the others gathered.

As I approached the top of the stairs, I looked out the large window above the front door. Here the newly fallen snow was even more unforgiving in its harsh radiance, but I could still see a figure coming towards our house. He was a boy a slight bit older than me in a black vest with short white sleeves, a red shirt and matching pants, fingerless gloves, and yellow clodhoppers on his feet. The footprints these shoes left in the snow unmistakably marked his trail. His spiky, brown hair had amassed a number of snowflakes. A humongous key-shaped object was stuck in his hand.

I flew down the stairs and to the front door as fast as I could. I opened the door, and the figure was standing right on my porch, shivering violently. "Who might you be?" I asked him.

"I'm S-S-Sora," he answered. "M-M-Mind if I come in and w-w-warm up?"

"No, I don't mind; go right ahead," I answered.

I led Sora into the family room and got him a towel from the adjacent room. After wrapping the towel around him, I strolled into the kitchen to make some breakfast for the two of us. I opened the freezer and took out a pair of waffles for Sora and me. After popping them in the toaster, I walked back to Sora and sparked up a conversation.

"Where did you come from?"

Sora seemed hesitant to answer this question, but he replied with two words: "Destiny Islands."

"Oh, so you're from Japan?"

"No, not exactly."

"That would explain the fluent accent… How did you find your way here?"

"I was given directions."

"From who?"

"Ah…" The waffles popped up in the toaster and interrupted him.

I ran to get them, putting them on two plates. I grabbed the syrup from the cupboard and handed one of the plates to Sora. "That ought to warm you up some." After almost drowning my waffle with syrup, I remembered the lack of silverware. I ran back into the kitchen and came back with a fork and knife as quick as a flash. I even had a pair for Sora. I handed him his pair and started to cut up my waffle.

"Do you know any of the guys around here?" I asked him before I took a syrupy bite.

"No, I just moved here."

I nodded in acknowledgement and swallowed my bite of waffle. With a clear mouth I asked, "Why aren't you in decent clothes for this weather, anyway? Or aren't your snow pants unpacked yet?"

"Yeah, that's it." He put down his key and took up his silverware.

"Why are you carrying that key?"

"It's a special delivery for someone."

"Who- Oh, pardon me for being so rude," I said. "It's just that I haven't had anything interesting happen around here for a while."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I did have a weird dream last night. A pair of weird dreams, actually."

Sora's interest seemed piqued by this. "Why don't you tell me about them?"

"Okay. It all started when my family watched a movie last night, a Disney movie by the name of…"

My story continued well into 10:00 with absolutely no details spared. Sora hung on my every word, apparently very interested in my dreams. "…And the next thing I know, I'm back in my bed. I still don't know why those attacks actually hurt." I took the final bite of my waffle, stood up, and took my dishes to the kitchen. The irking object in my slipper continued to annoy me the entire time. When I got back into the family room, I took off my slipper and shook the object out into my hand. The object was a miniature glass heart light red in color. It was the heart Guard Armor left behind after our fight!

"What's this doing here?" I showed the heart to Sora.

Sora inspected it and said, "Maybe your dream wasn't a dream after all."

"What are you talking about? There's no way that all of those events could have been truly happening."

"There _is_ one way to find out." He pulled back my right sleeve. "See? You said you got a strange mark in one of your dreams. If it didn't really happen, why is it there now?"

I looked at my wrist in disbelief. Sure enough, the dark mark of the Heartless was clearly visible there. I drew my arm back and tried to rub it off, but it was held fast. "Oh, no, not again."

"This has happened to you before?"

"Three times, as a matter of fact, although not exactly like this. I'd tell you about them, but the plotlines may get a little complex."

"Go ahead, I don't mind."

"Well," I began, "these adventures started about a year-and-a-half ago—"

Footsteps on the steps interrupted me. Someone was coming!

"Come on! We have to hide you!"

Sora looked a little hurt by this abrupt statement. "Why?"

"My siblings are the biggest tattletales in Pennsylvania. If they see you here, they'll be sure to tell my mom, and she'll tell my dad, and I'll get busted by both of them! Just hide behind the chair." He leapt out of the blanket and hid behind my dad's chair in the corner.

The disturbance was my brother Andy again. He was carrying another movie and being followed by my younger sisters. The movie in his hands was _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. "Mom wants you to work this for us," he told me.

"Sure, why not?" I took the tape from him and walked over to the television opposite the opening into the kitchen. I located the VCR and put the tape inside. After pressing play, I sat in the couch Sora was hiding behind to enjoy the movie. An eager smile crossed my face as the music began…

…

After the movie, I looked at the clock. The time was around noon, and the others ran into the kitchen to scrounge up something for lunch. I got up from the chair to join them, when I remembered Sora behind the chair. "Do you want anything else to eat?"

"No," he replied. "I have to be getting back to my mom; she'll be wondering where I am."

"I understand." I helped him to his feet and snuck him over to the door past my busy siblings. "See you later," I told him as he walked out the door. I closed it behind him and turned around towards the kitchen. I could already taste that garlic bread.

Sora wandered back through the snow and across the street. He walked aimlessly through the woods until he got to the lip of a snowy cliff. Here, another person was already waiting, a person in dark robes and holding a staff. "So, what news do you bring?" the other person asked.

"Your target is very fond of Halloween Town," Sora said.

"Then perhaps we should send him there. I'll warn Oogie Boogie, while you dance your little dance for us."

Sora turned away and walked back towards my house as the stranger disappeared. A scowl crossed his face. "What a demon that one is," he muttered. He trudged once again through the snow and to my house.

He knocked on the front door, and I soon answered it, munching on a piece of garlic bread. "Back so soon?"

"My mom's not home yet, I just remembered. Could I bunk here for another hour or so?"

"Sure, I could always use a partner for Nintendo." I took him by the hand and almost dragged him down with me to the basement and to the entertainment room. None of it was ready for company, but then again I hadn't been expecting any. I dropped Sora on the couch and picked up two of the four controllers connected to the Nintendo.

As I wired the proper connections, I felt an alarmingly sharp blow to the back of my head. All of my actions ceased immediately. I dropped the controllers and slumped forward onto the television screen. Before I blacked out completely, I heard this final message: "Sorry it has to be this way."


	3. The Pumpkin King

**Chapter ****III****: The Pumpkin King**

I woke up in a cold, grassy field to the sound of some weird but cheerful music. The pain from the blow to my head was still pounding, even now. I rubbed the sore spot under my hair as I sat up. I looked around, but all I saw was a mass of grinning pumpkins against a dreary sky around me, all of them staring at me. The only other light came from somewhere over the next hill, where the music was coming from. Not even the moon showed his face tonight. Something told me I wasn't in my basement anymore.

"Where am I?" No answer came out of the lonely bleakness.

A little disturbed by this fact, I stood up and wandered towards the music amongst the litany of smiling pumpkins, hopefully towards civilization. As I crept over the hill, I saw an entire town open up before me. Everything was drab in color except for the lights, but everything irregularly shaped. I looked around for the source of the music, but I couldn't see anything else out of the ordinary.

"Scary, isn't it?"

I flipped around to see who had said that. It was a mummy -- with a duckbill? "Donald? Is that you?"

"Who were you expecting, the Grim Reaper?"

"No one, really. I didn't recognize you at first because you look so… different." It was true, and it wasn't just the wrapping cloth around him. Two fangs were protruding from his bill and his feet had claws poking from the cloth.

"And you don't?" He stroked his feathered fingers down my chest. A sound like a xylophone was the result. "You're nothing except hair and bones, literally."

I looked myself over, hoping he was wrong. However, he was absolutely right. I _was_ nothing but a skeleton! My bones were a dingy gray with nothing on them. I touched my bony hands to my face, but it was nothing except a skull. I didn't even have eyes! I scratched my forehead and relieved when I touched hair. At least I had that. "What's going on here?!"

"It's the magic connected to this world."

"_This _world? We're in another world?"

"Yes, Halloween Town to be exact."

"Wait, if you're here, then where's Goofy?"

"HELP!" The cry came from back in the pumpkin patch. Goofy was clearly visible in front of a humongous jack-o-lantern, wrestling what appeared to be my old blade from the hands of a purple gargoyle! Goofy had been altered by this world as well and now looked like a cross between a zombie and Frankenstein's monster.

That didn't matter right now; I had to get my blade back. I ran down the hill at top speed towards the confrontation and leapt into the air. I came down, sharp bony fingers bared, and struck the hands of the gargoyle. It flew back in a daze. I took my sword from Goofy and slashed the gargoyle's wings off. "Thanks for keeping this for me," I told Goofy with a thankful grin on my face.

"Be careful not to lose it next time, okay?" Goofy replied with his usual laugh.

I smiled and said, "I'll be careful."

I rushed at the gargoyle and skewered it right below a familiar heart symbol. This gargoyle was a Heartless! As the gargoyle dissolved off of my blade, another one appeared on either side of me. A pair of wiry creatures with normal-sized mummy heads accompanied each one of these gargoyles. "Yep, this is definitely Halloween Town."

One of the gargoyles dive-bombed me. I turned to face it and leapt back, skewering the one flying behind me as the other gargoyle crashed into the ground. As I landed, I slammed the one on my sword into the one stuck in the ground. I slashed the resulting mess until the parts sank into the eternal darkness of this land. As for the wiry creatures, a rapid slashing brought them down like sticks before a roaring fire.

When I slayed these, another batch popped right up in its place! "Isn't there an end to these things?"

"Let us take a whack at 'em." Goofy rushed into the midst of the Heartless and started spinning around like a cyclone, his shield attached to his spinning arm. When the Heartless came into contact with the shield, they flew back, knocked unconscious. In this state, Donald cast an icy spell from his wand. Instantly, the Heartless froze like pumpkins in winter and vanished.

"Thanks, you guys. Now, let's go see what's going on in town."

We walked through the pumpkins again and back up the hill. This time, a celebration was occurring in the open streets. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were dancing around the square, singing a song that went something like this:

_Boys and girls of every age,_

_Wouldn't you like to see something strange?_

_Come with us and you will see_

_This, our town of Halloween_

We carefully snuck down the stairs, careful not to disturb anyone here. When we reached the bottom, we cautiously snuck over to the fountain in the middle of the square to listen in on the song.

However, a vampire and a clown on a unicycle caught us in our hiding place. "Vy aren't you three in formation?" the vampire asked.

"Err…" I didn't have an answer for this question, since I wasn't a local.

"Come on, we'll miss our queue," the clown said, tugging at my arm bone. All three of us reluctantly followed them into the mass gathering, singing along with them the best we could.

_It's our town; everybody scream_

_In this town of Halloween,_

A little demon that looked like a dark purple shadow Heartless with a smaller body and sharp, jagged teeth protruding from its mouth jumped into the front of the group and began a solo part:

_I am the one hiding under your bed, _

_Teeth grown sharp and eyes glowing red._

A larger monster that looked like an anteater with hulking arms and a large mouth full of fangs replaced the one in the ring and continued with this solo:

_I am the one hiding under your stairs, _

_Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair._

The song kept going, other monsters giving their verses to the lively tune. These creatures included the vampire, a werewolf, and even the clown that had stopped us earlier had a verse. Finally, two of the monsters pulled a cart down the street from the bulk of the town.

_Won't you please make way for a very special guy…_

On the cart they pulled, a flaming scarecrow danced awkwardly and crazily. As he danced, the other creatures sang,

_Pumpkin Jack is King of the Pumpkin Patch! _

_Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King, now!_

_This is Halloween; this is Halloween._

The being dancing atop the cart came to an abrupt halt in its dancing, leaning over the edge and flailing its arms. Without anyone trying to help it regain its balance, the creature fell over the edge and into the green fountain as it passed. It sank into the depths, extinguishing the flames but also washing off its straw. All of the creatures faced the fountain and continued singing.

_In this town, we call home, _

_Everyone hails to the pumpkin song._

A figure rose out of the fountain, a slender and bone-white one in a midnight black tuxedo. His arms were folded over his chest and his coal-black eyes stared out from his bald skull as if they were extensions of the night sky. As I looked on from the crowd, the figure grew more and more familiar to me. I just couldn't place the name on who the person was. When the figure stood on top of the water, all of the creatures giggled, but I was left speechless. I realized that this was none other than Jack Skellington himself!

The other creatures sifted back into the streets of Halloween Town since they were finished with their song, but we and Jack stayed behind. His happy grin saddened into barely a drooping frown with no one to bear witness. His eye hollows reflected this misery as he trudged out of the city streets. He sighed as his eye hollows swept the ground. We curiously followed him to see what the matter could be.

We followed him into another field, one full of numerous tombstones. A thin mist weaved amongst the tombstones, hiding the ground from view. Jack walked to the center of this graveyard and sat down on one of the tombstones, his skull in his bony hands.

"What do ya think is the matter with him?" Goofy asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "I don't know. Let's ask him."

"Good plan. Maybe he can help us find the king in this crazy town," Donald added.

We crept past the tombstones to Jack as stealthily as we could. I tapped his shoulder with my bony finger and asked him what the matter was.

He looked up at me with big, sad hollows. "Who might you guys be?" he asked. "I certainly haven't seen you here before."

"We're just coming from… ah… Spookensburg from across the pumpkin patch," I fibbed.

Jack gave a weak chuckle and miserably said, "I was hoping for something new and creative after so much monotonous macabre. My most original revelation, Christmas and Halloween together…" He spat into the mists at this memory and sighed, "What a stupid idea." He put his skull in his hands again. "Don't mind me; I'm just reliving old miseries. If only I could find some more ingeniously scary ideas to give this old ghost town some of its old luster back…"

"We could help you there," I offered. "We're looking for a few things ourselves."

"Really? Like what?" Jack's voice was regaining some of its old pep again.

"We're looking for a king, King Mickey of Disney Castle," Goofy piped up.

"And I'm looking for a way to cure this." I reached down in my ribs and took out the heart.

Jack took it and told me, "What's to cure about this? This heart isn't bad in the slightest." He gave it back to me.

I replaced the heart and replied, "You mean, it isn't cursed?"

"Of course not! Just because it has darkness doesn't make it evil. See?" He pointed to the light half of the heart. "As long as there is a little bit of light, there's still control. This is the secret of Halloween Town's success! It isn't the darkness that's evil, it's how you use it."

"Whew, that's a relief."

Off in the distance back in the direction of the town, a siren wailed out a distress message: "Jack! We need your help! A riot's going on downtown with no chance of stopping! Those dark creatures are back with reinforcements!"

"Oh, no, not again," Jack angrily muttered. "That's the fourth infestation this week. I shouldn't have let Oogie Boogie stay after all the trouble he caused."

"You mean Oogie Boogie's the cause of your Heartless problems?" Donald asked.

"What about being heartless?" Jack asked with a touch of hurt in his voice.

"We mean the dark creatures," I corrected. "We had to face a gang of them right in the pumpkin patch."

"Oh, the Heartless. They've been running out of control for the longest time. No matter how many we kill, they always come back in stronger numbers. Come on, fellas, we may be able to throw back this assault!" He ran straight towards town at top speed, almost seeming to pass right through the tombstones with his nimble, spidery legs. Goofy, Donald, and I had a hard time keeping up with him. We ran over the hill and through the city streets between pairs of the twisted streetlights. Translucent, wispy ghosts followed us on our trek through the town, moaning in a low, creepy tone. As Jack picked up speed, we relied more and more on these ghosts to guide our way.

Soon, we came to the center of town, the massive intersection connecting all of the streets. Heartless were everywhere, attacking the local citizens. Gargoyles were picking up some of the littler monsters and dropping them into the fountain as the wiry mummies spun the larger ones like tops. Shadows were scattered throughout, attacking at will.

"It really is a bad one this time," Jack blurted as soon as he saw the numbers. "Ah, well." He pointed his bony fingers at the gargoyle carrying the bed monster and yelled, "Take that!" Instantly, a dark sphere formed around the gargoyle, bringing it straight down to earth. The bed monster ran out of sight as the Heartless was plowed into the ground. It disappeared, leaving only the crater. "And that!" This time, he concentrated on a group of the mummies playing with the clown. All of them froze in their tracks, not even batting an eyelash. I ran up to these creatures and slashed them to pieces. They vanished into the darkness as well.

Donald, who was just catching up to the party, asked Jack, "How could you cast those spells? They were Stop and Gravity!"

Jack looked at him strangely and replied, "What are you talking about? I've been working on Cut and Ghostly Scream for decades."

"Okay, enough admiration," I said to those two, "we've got some Heartless butt to kick." I blindly stabbed behind me under my armpit, skewering the Shadow that wandered too close. I turned around and slashed it into the other one with it. Both vanished.

Heartless fell like wildfire once we put to work on it with Goofy and me working the physical angles and Donald and Jack on spell casting. Some of the creatures we rescued lent us a helping hand in striking the riot down. We even helped each other out of some of the tighter spots, like when Jack stopped all of the Wight Knights (the mummies) that had surrounded me.

In the middle of the battle, a Wight Knight stretched its arm at my heart. Its tendrils weaved through my ribs and slashed its ruby surface. I solidly slashed it back, but the damage was only beginning. The darkness from the dark half of the heart seeped into the cracks and leaked out, darkening my ribs. From there, the darkness raced to my sword. More darkness joined it and continued to spread to the rest of my bones. My teeth grew into fangs and my fingers grew sharp claws at their tips, as did my toes. A bony set of wings grew from my shoulder blades, and my eye sockets filled with a fire of purple darkness.

Using my new wings, I flew into the cloudy sky and disappeared within it. A deep, malicious laugh filled the town, striking all with fear (except for Jack, because he _is_ fear). I quickly soared down and struck a gargoyle Heartless full in the head. I skewered it to the ground, leaving it to vanish. I quickly pulled up and into the clouds for another sweep. A Wight Knight was slain next. More Heartless joined the ranks of those passed on the more I flew from the sky. All the time, a fanged smile crossed my cheekbones.

On the final Heartless I attacked, I accidentally flew down too hard and struck my sword against the cobblestone bricks, the Heartless still attached. My sword split along a jagged line near the center of the blade as the Heartless disappeared. When I saw both halves of the blade, the darkness retreated back through the cracks in my heart and balanced out. Now, instead of fire in my eyes, a tear formed instead.

Jack caught sight of this and told me, "There's no use crying over split blades. Come on, we'll go take a visit to Dr. Finkelstein and see if we can't fix that up for you."

He took my bony hand and quickly ran down one of the streets towards a tall, single tower castle. When he noticed how easy it was to drag me, he looked behind him. I was still in the square, all except for the hand he ripped off of me. Jack walked back to the square, a toothy grimace on his face. "Oops."

I took my hand from him, slightly annoyed, reattached it to my wrist with a '_snap_', and set out with the entire posse: Donald, Goofy, and Jack.

As we made our way down the street, creatures cheered us on from their windows, throwing down dead flowers and streamers in oranges and blacks at us. Even a band was playing in our honor. We all took our bows for our fans and fellow monsters as we made our way to the castle, large grins on our faces.

As we left the city street and came to a dirt path, the buzzing and bubbling of numerous drowned out the sounds of an excited town. I ventured through a gate and onto a narrow dirt path with a sheer drop down a cliff on either side. The castle at the end of this path was also like that. Lightning flashed behind it twice, giving it an intimidating demeanor. Shadows cast from the windows also caused a chill up the spine. "Seems the doctor's upgraded his security system since last time I was here," Jack remarked with a smile. "He does love his privacy, almost as much as I love Sally."

I gulped as I strode down the path up towards the house. This place was really starting to scare me, especially the thoughts of what was beyond the door to the house.

As I knocked on the door, I could hear someone shouting. "Sally? Sally, where are you, you misbehaving girl?" the voice screamed. "Answer the door! Sally!"

I gave a quick tug on the door handle; thankfully, it was already open. I strolled inside, the others following right behind me. Jack walked past us and called out, "Dr. Finkelstein, it's Jack. I've brought some guests that are here to see you."

"Jack? With guests? Hold on, I'll be with you momentarily."

The squeal of a set of wheels on concrete echoed through the entrance corridor. They came from behind a banister about a floor above us. A ramp led up to this banister to our right. Putting two and two together, we climbed up this ramp.

When we got to the top, the creature that made the sounds stood before us. Actually, he sat before us in a wheelchair. The creature had a big, round head and a scrunched up face near the bottom of it. He wore tiny sunglasses, a spotless white lab coat, black gloves, and had thin lips that jutted from his face in a sharp point. He definitely had the look of a mad scientist. "You just couldn't be patient, could you?"

Jack stepped forward and apologized, saying, "Sorry, Doctor. We didn't mean to barge in on you so unexpected like this."

"Why should _you_ apologize, Jack?" he replied. "You're always welcome. I was referring to these strangers that you brought with you. You're just lucky I wasn't working on an important experiment."

"Actually, that's why we came," Jack said. "This young man has a request for you."

"Oh, he does, does he? Come in; come in. I've actually been looking for an experiment to work on; frightfully boring here." He turned his wheelchair towards a doorway using a remote control on his chair arm and rolled towards it.

"Should we trust this guy?" Donald asked quietly.

"I know," I replied. "I was thinking the same thing. This guy doesn't appear to have all of his molecules in one beaker, if you catch my drift."

Jack patted me on the shoulder and said, "Dr. Finkelstein is Halloween Town's foremost renowned scientist. If anyone can fix your sword, he can." I wasn't any more reassured, but we reluctantly followed him inside.

In this room, all sorts of beakers filled with different solutions and assorted machines cast light on the walls. Things squeaked, buzzed, and bubbled all around us. The doctor led us past these fancy gizmos to his desk at the far end of the room. He turned around to face us as soon as he was positioned at it. "Now, what was your request, child?"

I held my broken blade out before him and asked, "Could you fix this for me?"

Dr. Finkelstein took both parts of the sword out of my hands and set them on the table behind him. He took out a magnifying glass and used it to view the two halves of the crack.

"Mm-hmm…" The doctor caught sight of something interesting. Both of the edges of the crack had black edges. This wasn't caused by normal means.

"Your blade has been split by darkness overload," he told us. "Not even this blade's reformation could prevent it from splitting again."

This wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. "Are you sure there's nothing you can do?"

Dr. Finkelstein smiled craftily and replied, "My boy, nothing's impossible for this mind." He tapped the hollow dome on top of his head, making a metallic rapping. "All I'd need is a sample of the darkness used to create the crack. I love a good, challenging experiment."

I reached under my ribs and procured my heart again. He quickly took it and studied it under his magnifying glass. "Ah, this is the finest specimen I have ever laid eyes on," the doctor said. He took a sterile syringe from the table and stuck it into the cracks in the heart. He siphoned a small amount from the black half of the heart and gave it back to me. I quickly replaced it.

Dr. Finkelstein went to work automatically, putting the sample through different machines and complex chemical analyses, scooting his wheelchair from one table to the next. He was almost a blur to the rest of us.

Finally, after what seemed to be half an hour, Dr. Finkelstein wheeled up to us. "I have all the data I need to upgrade your sword, although I do require some privacy as I finish it." He wheeled out of the room and rounded the corner and left our sight. We curiously followed him.

We peeked around the corner, but he had vanished completely! Not even the squeal of his wheelchair could be heard. "He takes the word 'privacy' very strictly," Jack explained.

"He sure does," I agreed.

"Gwarsh, what a strange doctor," Goofy said as we reentered the research room.

Dr. Finkelstein was awaiting us at the table. He was holding my sword in his hands – in one piece! "Strange doesn't even begin to cover it."

He gently threw the sword to me. It wasn't anything like my old sword: this one was shaped like a bat's wing with red plates between metal spokes, a sort of hook in the center of the blade, and a weird spiky eye connecting the blade to the hilt. But it was it; I could tell by the sword's grip. I gave a few practice swings with the blade, but I accidentally struck a beaker.

The doctor caught one of the shards in his hands and sighed. "That was one of my more antique beakers, given to me by my father." He laughed at this thought and added, "I never really liked him, anyway."

"Oh, by the way…" The doctor reached into his pocket and took out a set of keys. None of these keys were the same color or the same shape. He threw them across the room to me. I caught them with the hand that didn't hold the sword. "Those keys have been I this castle as long as any of us have been here. We haven't been able to find any lock that they unlock. Maybe you'll find them."

"Thanks, Doc." I turned towards the door and beckoned for the others to follow me out. They obeyed, leaving the doctor to continue his studies. As we left, I could hear the faint sound of porcelain slapping on cobblestone…

Near the edge of the forest beyond the pumpkin patch and on the other side of a long dried up creek, a rickety clubhouse rested in the branches of an ancient tree. Its paint was centuries worn off, and a long, thick tube was practically the only thing keeping the gnarled tree from collapsing.

It was to here that a bathtub on four stubby legs hurriedly ran through the forest path, bearing three passengers. All three were wearing masks in different shapes and colors and dressed in different outfits to match these masks.

"Do you think Oogie Boogie will be displeased with us?" asked the first one dressed in a faded red devil's outfit.

The second one, dressed as a witch, bonked him on the head and replied, "Of course, he will! _He's_ here, and he's already got Jack on his side!"

The third one in the tub, a chubby skeleton with a grin as wide as he was, chuckled and added, "He works fast for a whelp."

"He's no whelp if he can befriend that bone bag in one fell swoop, let alone defeat those Heartless so easily."

"He probably got help from Jack."

"Who cares?" The devil was getting a little too impatient with his partners' bickerings. "The fact of the matter is that he's here for Oogie Boogie's bounty."

At that moment, their ride exited the woods and entered an open path that led straight towards their tree house. Their tub raced up the gnarled path that led to their garage of sorts, ignoring the door and barging right in. The three sibling miscreants hopped out of the tub and ran towards the tube at the other end of a room littered with rusty cages and sharp weapons as well as various other things, being careful not to be scratched by anything.

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel reporting for duty, your most honored scariness," they all said down the tube in unison.

A deep voice rose up from the depths of the tube and bellowed, "What is the condition of the town? Rubble yet?"

"Actually, it, err…" the skeleton Barrel stammered, "not exactly…"

"That Heilmann kid teamed up with Jack and took 'em out," Shock the witch cut in.

An enraged growl came up from the depths. All three of the masked minions cowered around the tube, waiting for what would come next. "I can't believe I lost that gamble! But, no matter. I still have an ace up my sleeve. Capture those fools yourselves and bring them down to me."

"With pleasure." The voice didn't belong to any of those three, but to someone who had followed them the whole way from town. A skirmish took place at the mouth of the tube, and a sack was thrown down the tube with three squirming occupants cursing the whole way down.

The sack landed in the middle of a metal platform with all sorts of arcane torture devices surrounding it, most of them with skeletons hanging off of them. A hulking mass walked out from the shadows and undid the knot tying the sack. He picked up the sack and dumped it out. The three hooligans lay sprawled out on the floor in front of him. "What is the meaning of this?" he hollered at them.

"He ambushed us, even taking my candy," Barrel complained. "That darn mummy-duck."

"Wait, it was a_ duck_ that ambushed you?"

"Yes, boss," answered Lock. "It was a duck wrapped in toilet paper."

"YOU THREE WERE TAKEN OUT BY THAT DIM-WITTED DUCK?!"

A voice came from up the tube in reply. "I'm not dim-witted!"

"But _you_ seem to be." This voice came from a window at the base of where the tube entered the lair. Oogie Boogie stared up at the window into my bony face with horror.

"You! You look just like that meddlesome skeleton, Jack!"

I smiled a fanged smile and said, "I do indeed, for I am just as deadly!" I leapt from the window, my sword ready to slice. I brought down the sword early, striking a live wire that was strung through the rafters of the room. The hook on my sword snagged the wire, causing me to rapidly flip over and over the wire, shocking me. Without nerves, however, the electricity only collected in the sword. Oogie Boogie and his henchmen watched in awe and shock (no pun intended) as the sword shone with about one thousand kilowatts of electricity.

On about the hundredth swing, I unhooked the sword from the wire, still spinning in the air like a buzz saw straight for Oogie Boogie. He was too paralyzed with fear to move or even close his mouth. Our gazes were locked as I flew right towards this idiotic apparition and struck him full in his bulging belly. All of the power in my blade channeled straight into him, sending him slamming into the wall, completely sizzled to a crisp. "How did you like my bug zapper, Oogie _Buggy_?"

Oogie rubbed at his charred lip with one of his stubby arms and spat on the stone floor. A bug landed where he aimed and crawled away. "So, you know my secret, do you, boy? Well, you must also know about my gamblin' fever!" He grabbed a switch right above his head and threw it down.

Instantly, the whole place lit up with all sorts of eerie neon colors. The floor beneath me started spinning as the whole platform started to sink into the ground. Lock, Shock, and Barrel ran off to join their boss before it sank completely. Oogie angrily kicked them away from him, back onto the platform. "You three still have a job to do," he told them. He stood up and hobbled through a pair of doors, leaving me with the three stooges.

They all looked at me with scared expressions on their faces; obviously, this wasn't their idea of a good time. They turned their backs to me and huddled together. "What are we supposed to do?" Lock asked his siblings. "What can we do against this guy?"

"I don't know," Barrel replied. "This guy doesn't seem to be as easy as that Sandy Claws guy was those years ago."

Shock smacked him upside the head and shot back, "Of course, he's harder, Bonehead! Sandy Claws didn't have a sword or a grudge for sending all those Heartless after him!"

I had heard enough. I tore off my bony hand and set it on the ground. My hand rose up on its two middle fingers and ran on them as if it were its own separate person. It ran up behind Barrel as quietly as it could and up his leg using the other two fingers as arms. When it got to Barrel's bulging waistline, it dug down to his elastic waistband and gave a hard upward thrust, holding Barrel's underwear in its bony grasp. Barrel squealed as he lifted off the ground, my wedgie taking a firm effect. Lock and Shock turned around, angry sneers laid on their unmasked faces.

"I'm not here to baby-sit," I growled as I sneered back at them.

Lock and Shock exchanged a glance at each other and reached their hands into their pockets. Each one procured a sharp implement, Lock's an axe and Shock's a long knife. They looked at me again, this time a smile exposing their teeth. They both ran at me, their weapons ready to take me apart.

I faked a yawn with my handless arm and parried their strikes. They were stunned by this move, almost as much as when I sliced their weapons out of their hands and kicked them away. They spun around on the spinning floor, landing right underneath Barrel's floating bulk. Lock and Shock dazedly looked up, realizing my plan. I smiled as I released my hand's grip on Barrel's underwear, sending him crashing down on his comrades. All three of them gave an exhausted moan and fainted. The platform lurched to a stop and began to rise again.

My hand walked back to me and leapt back onto my wrist. I gave it a twist, and it popped back into place.

I heard a cage rattle on the floor upstairs; apparently, Jack had found Oogie Boogie. Another cage rattled on the floor, and a thump echoed down the pipe. Several more came down as something fell down it. I got an idea of who it was as the hefty bag of bugs fell out of the tube right on top of the three kids. Jack stuck his head out of the pipe and said, "He's all yours, now!"

I nodded my approval to him as he slipped back up the pipe. I turned my attention to Oogie Boogie as he stood up. Oogie once again turned to the doors, but he backed off once he saw the pair of Donald and Goofy blocking the way with Jack behind them.

He stared at me angrily, and I returned it just as ferociously. "It seems you too are a good gambler," he admitted, "But the Boogie Man always has a trump card." To prove his point, he threw a switch behind him on the same panel as the one he threw before. The floor opened up halfway, and a boiling pool of lava glowed from beneath where the floor used to be.

Another door opened from the ceiling, this one right above the pit of lava in the center of the platform. A rope was lowered from this door with someone tied to it. This person looked like a rag doll, except one as big as anyone playing with her. Her clothes were odds and ends of cloth sewn together and patched up in several places. This was Sally, Jack's girlfriend! She took one look at me and asked, "Jack? Is that you?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Sally," I replied, "but I'm not Jack."

"Oh, isn't that sweet. The rag doll's found a boyfriend." Oogie slit the seams in his arms laughing, allowing one or two of the bugs within him to escape. "However, I love to break up romance."

Oogie Boogie chuckled at his ploy and threw two more switches. Instantly, playing cards rose around the ring, cutting me off from the monster. This point became literal once all of the kings' swords broke off from the cards and began swinging madly. Oogie ran between the wall and his deck of cards to an indentation, where he hid behind three bandits with slot machines built into them. They advanced from their nooks, each one of them with a handgun pointing straight at me. "I'd like to see you get out of this one, Skull Kid!"

The situation was tense, even tenser than I had been hoping for. A hostage slowly approached her doom, all sorts of tricks and traps surrounded me that would make even a skeleton play dead, and who knows what else could be waiting for me in the unknown darkness. I did have three allies waiting in the wings, but I wanted this to be a solo fight.

Oogie smiled again as he watched me sort things out. "I see one in infinity that you'll make it out of this one, Heilmann!" he shouted at me with a laugh.

I sneered at him as I looked at my surroundings. If I could time a slice just right… I leapt into the air, almost completely instinctively, and brought my sword down right on the first of the king's swords I came to. My blade struck it just as it was coming up, amplifying the pressure put on it. The other blade split from its card, still on its trajectory. The free blade struck the second blade the card was holding, splitting it off as well. This blade in turn flew, ricocheted off of the next card's side and flew straight at Sally's rope, cutting it cleanly in two. As she fell, I quickly snapped my hand off and threw it at the free flying cord, catching it in mid-air and propelling it to the wall right next to Jack and the others.

With one problem out of the way, I still had to deal with the other three. Luckily, I still had that disarmed card right next to me. I stabbed it right in the middle and tore it off its mechanics. The three gangsters were right behind it. I quickly threw the card at the gangsters as I tore my blade out of it. The card connected solidly, but the gangsters were too resilient to be knocked down by this attack. One of the gangsters shot off his pistol, connecting once again with the heart I held in my ribcage.

I staggered backwards, holding the light half of the heart that had been hit. The ruby-red substance poured out from the wound, spilling on my bony fingers. Where the light once was, the darkness now began to fill its place, until _it_ started to leak out. As it covered my bones, I could feel my brain slowly succumbing to it, slipping into the madness of darkness.

The dark fire filled my eyes again, my fangs grew back, and my wings reformed; it all felt so pleasing now. Oogie stared at my transformation, fearful of what I'd do next. However, as soon as he saw what was coming my way, his demeanor calmed.

As I slashed the heads off the robotic gangsters, a buzz saw blade came spinning right at me, ready to tear my skull right off. I shook my skull disgustedly and cartwheeled between the gangsters. The buzz saw blade sailed on its trajectory, cutting off the barrels to their pistols. I smiled at Oogie Boogie and mockingly said, "Next." My voice took on a more demonic edge when I said this.

Oogie Boogie's sack skin grew even paler than natural, and it definitely had the right to. He was fresh out of tricks, and he was cornered against a demon not afraid to tear him to pieces. The tables had turned drastically, and the odds were definitely not in his favor. He had only one option left, a last-ditch attempt on life: "How about we make a deal? I could get you in good with Maleficent. She could give you all the dark powers you'll ever need!"

I scowled at his offer and gave a thumbs-down. "Not interested. I don't want anything to do with that witch or any of her cronies. Besides, I have all the darkness she could ever offer right here." I pointed to my bleeding heart. "Allow me to show you a sample." My hands glowed with a purple aura, the darkness gathering. This aura developed into a flame that collected into a sphere in my hand. The dark fire raced up my blade. With my sword properly charged, I threw it at the cowering Oogie Boogie like a boomerang. It flew vertically like a buzz saw, cutting a large gash in the floor.

Right before it slashed Oogie, the blade turned horizontal, cutting a large slash across his belly that burst into flames. My blade continued to fly in a circle, returning to my hand. All species of bugs were spilled on the floor, squirming over each other, away from the burning wound. Oogie tried to hold the wound together, but his stubby hands soon caught fire as well. Frustrated and scared, he ran out of his corner, past the gangsters and me, and back onto the spinning platform. He hurriedly ran for the exit, but he didn't gain any progress. He looked down past his flaming belly and noticed that he was walking _into_ the spin of the platform. Too little realization too late.

I flew over the machines and came down hard, my bony foot protruding. It struck Oogie Boogie full in the back, causing him to topple off the platform and into the pool of lava. His entire body burst into a roaring inferno. He hollered in pain and fear, flailing as he melted into nothing. Not a single bug that had attempted to escape lived.

"What a way to go," I bitterly remarked.

When Jack, Donald, and Goofy entered the room with Sally, the cards receded back into the floor, and the lighting was changed back to normal. What remained of the gangsters traversed back to their cells. Donald, Goofy, and Sally each picked up one of the three miscreants, all of them just waking up and groaning. They looked into Jack's angry sockets and almost automatically spilled the beans, trembling.

"Don't punish us; Oogie Boogie made us release the Heartless in town," Shock squealed.

"It was meant to be a prank," Lock added.

"We even curbed the Heartless' instincts so they wouldn't steal anybody's hearts," Barrel finished with a whimper.

Jack didn't look any happier.

Lock cringed at his glare and quickly added, "Oogie made us do it; even _he_ was under orders!"

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever-"

"Let 'em go, Jack," I interrupted. "Those three are telling the truth for once."

All seven of them looked at me confused.

"Oogie Boogie was acting on Maleficent's orders. High up in the ranks or just shooting his mouth off from what I can tell with his offer to me. For all I know, Maleficent was expecting me."

Jack was stunned. "Why would she care whether _you_ got here or not?"

A pungent patch of smoke rose from the lava pool. I looked down into it and noticed that a dark liquid was dripping down into it. My gaze turned from the puddle of darkness on the floor to the dripping heart in my ribcage. I scowled at my hypothesis of what she might be planning and announced, "She plans to steal my heart."

Donald and Goofy were so shocked by this new information that they dropped their payloads. "She couldn't be planning what I think she's planning…" stammered Donald.

Now I was confused. "What? What do you think she's planning?"

"It's a secret ritual that all of us magicians are familiar with," Donald explained. "Long ago, when all the worlds were unified, there was an evil ruler that ascended the throne. This evil dictator feasted on the hearts of his servants and bred creatures to steal these hearts for him. His people became so fed up with him that they banded together as one and sealed him in the realm of Darkness. The only way to bring back the king is to find three special hearts: one filled with the light of love and virtue, one sealed with the darkness of the dictator himself, and one split between the darkness and the light. Maleficent must have been using the Heartless to find these hearts for her!"

"So that's why they keep attacking me," I mused, the story explaining all the gaps over the past days' events.

"That explains a lot," Jack nodded in accord.

"Maybe Maleficent kidnapped the king for the sacrifice," Goofy suggested. "No one has a heart more dedicated to the light than he does."

Sally nodded her head and added, "Oogie Boogie must have been one of the king's old servants as well, maybe the exterminator or something."

"We've got to find Maleficent and take her out, once and for all."

Before I could take another step, a black heart rose out of the lava, completely unscathed. In the center of this heart, a keyhole was clearly visible with a lava core lighting it up. Jack handed me the set of keys Doctor Finkelstein gave me as soon as he saw it. One of the keys was glowing slightly, a solid black one with its hook in the shape of an intricate spidery bat. I inserted this key into the keyhole (as soon as the lava dripped out) and turned it; a perfect fit. The heart dissolved into tiny particles that vanished into the key itself.

Another steam cloud rose from the lava pool. Donald and I both noticed this one. Donald held his magic staff up to my chest and said, "Cure." The green magic tendrils wrapped around my heart, healing the puncture wound as well as the scratches from earlier. The light and dark portions of the heart balanced out again, and all the darkness washed off of me.

"Come on, guys," I said to my friends. "Time to head out."

Donald and Goofy gave a cheer as they punched their fists into the air, and Jack gave his signature laugh. We all ran up the stairs, except for Jack and Sally who stayed behind to say their good-byes, their hands clasped together.

"Promise me you'll return to me soon, Jack," Sally pleaded.

Jack smiled at her and replied, "You need not worry, my dear. The Pumpkin King shall always be here for you. No matter where my journey takes me, you shall always be in my heart." His hands slipped away from hers as he turned and ran up the stairs after us. Sally smiled to herself and followed him silently upwards.

We ran out of the forest leading to the Boogie residence and back into town as fast as we could. We had already spent too much time in that gruesome place. When we got there, the monsters were milling about, life returning once again to normal (or as normal got in Halloween Town).

However, I could still sense something amiss in the air. Something didn't smell right. "Do you guys have the feeling that we forgot something?" I asked my comrades. They all shook their heads.

I was afraid of that, and not the good, Halloween Town kind of afraid.

Suddenly, a gargoyle flew out from behind one of the buildings. This gargoyle had someone riding it. The rider gave a loud, haughty chuckle and threw down an object. It reflected a flash of light off of it as it sailed closer to us. We all backed away from its flight path and not a moment too soon. The object sunk its blade into a groove in the cobblestone bricks; it was an axe, an all-too-familiar one. I looked up into the sky and took a closer look at our attacker. He was rather short and dressed all in red. There was no doubt about it, Lock was the pilot.

Two more gargoyles flew from behind the building, each with a passenger on their backs as well. I took a wild guess at who they were. They each threw an object down to us, creating a gash into the cobblestone alongside the axe. Shock threw her knife, and Barrel had thrown the lollypop he regained from Donald somehow. The candy dripped with an acid that had dissolved into the cobblestone.

These guys meant business.

They flew in a circle over our heads, swooping lower and lower with each passing circle. Their grubby hands had procured another weapon each, and they were all aimed at us. They stood before us in the square, their steeds planted firmly on the ground.

"You have some nerve leaving us in the dark, you murderer," Shock cackled.

"Yeah," Lock added. "Oogie Boogie was the scariest guy in the whole of Halloween Town! Not even Jack was scarier than he was!"

I sneered angrily at these disrespectful curs and replied, "Just because he targeted _you_ for his scares on a daily basis doesn't make that bug bag any scarier than the true master of fright, the Pumpkin King!"

The three miscreants bared their teeth at me, their grubby hands gripping their weapons even more tightly now. Apparently I had struck a raw nerve. I held my sword in a battle pose awaiting their next move.

Barrel only chuckled at my alertness. "You talk big talk for a bone bag. Who do you think you are, Jack Skellington himself?"

"No," I replied, "I'm only his apprentice in the arts of fear. Allow me-" A cloud of smoke enveloped me, and I vanished without a trace or another word.

Everyone involved in the events in the clubhouse basement looked around for me, but I couldn't be found. Without warning, I reappeared right behind Barrel and picked him up with the flat plane of my sword. I threw him up into the air without a touch of difficulty and managed to say "-to give you-" before I disappeared in another puff of smoke.

I reappeared right in Barrel's flight path, my sword poised to strike. "-a sample!" The instant he collided with the blade, I released the trap, flinging him full into his own gargoyle. Both of them got plowed into the cobblestone bricks.

As I fell, I used my sword to absorb the shock of impact as I landed right on the gargoyle's head. The Heartless dissolved off the sword and into the night.

With one of them out of the way, I turned my attention towards the other two. Both of them were glowering with rage, their grubby hands forming stress fractures on the wooden handles of their weapons. They lifted their gargoyles off the ground a little ways and slammed them to the ground. A gate rolled high above us, cutting me off from my friends.

The troublesome twosome giggled at their ploy and ordered their steeds to rush me. The gargoyles obediently obliged. With their claws extended, they raced at my ribcage. I stood my ground against their assault, an air of daring surrounding me. This only spurred them all faster.

They got to the point of scratching my ribs with the tips of their claws before I flipped backwards, my feet striking the cage and my fingers wrapping around the bars. I kept my sword in front of my face, but it wasn't necessary; the two riders had stopped their mounts dead in their tracks.

They had done me a favor of stopping short with little regrouping time on their own behalf, and I intended to exploit their folly. I sprang off the cage in a fast spin with my sword held out to the side. As I passed through the formation of gargoyles, I threw their riders into the cage wall with all of my strength. My feet skidded on the stone, and a veil of dust was kicked up as I landed.

I listened for the '_clang_' of soft bodies on the hard bars, but I only heard a sniggering come from the dust cloud behind me. A quick gust blew this dust away. Lock and Shock hadn't left their mounts! "Did you honestly think a dirty trick that simple would win this for you?" Shock taunted.

"Yeah," added Lock. "Dirty tricks are our strategy! Just watch and learn, bone bag." He took a rope out of a side saddle pouch and fashioned it into a lasso. As soon as he finished, he spun it over his head cowboy-style and launched it at me. I dodged it effortlessly with a smirk on my face.

Suddenly, another lasso was thrown over me, constricting my arms! A cackle erupted from behind me as the rope tightened its squeeze. Even without turning around I could tell what had happened. "Very clever. Distract me with one lasso and hit me from behind with another."

"And we aren't even finished yet!" Lock reeled in his lasso and quickly had me in his bind as well.

To add insult to injury, Lock and Shock lifted their gargoyles off of the ground. They flew around me, continuously leading the rope out of their saddle pouches. The rope twisted around every bone below my collar bone, even getting in between the ribs. Lock and Shock were giggling, shrieking, and otherwise whooping it up as this was going on. By the time they were finished, I looked more like a mummy than a skeleton. Only my skull was left open, but that was only because Lock and Shock were at the end of their rope (literally).

They got their hand weapons ready again and edged their mounts toward me, drawing out the suspense and adding to it with their mischievous giggles. The noise was driving me mad. I struggled against my bonds, but since my sword escaped me during my bondage, I was stuck. Even so, I was desperate to escape.

Lock and Shock sensed my desperation and laughed even more at it. "So much for the Pumpkin Apprentice! He can't even free himself from this trap without his precious sword!" Lock teased.

"Enough of this, bat brain," Shock screeched. "You know our orders. Let's take this guy to Maleficent."

Lock groaned, but he agreed to his sister's wishes. He lifted his gargoyle off the ground and high into the sky. Shock followed close behind. The ropes they held tightened slightly, and I was hoisted into the sky, feet first.

As if I wasn't being tortured enough, the two of them started to sing.

_Kidnap the Heilmann, tie him up real tight _

_Take him to the Dark Witch so she can cause some fright._

I frantically shook the rope work binding me; if I had to listen to any more of that song I'd lose it for sure. My captors only laughed at my pathetic attempts and continued singing.

Back on the ground, my friends looked up at me, at my tortured and frustrated face. "You have to help him, Jack," Sally pleaded. "He can't escape them alone!"

Jack looked up at me sympathetically, apparently in deep thought. "Yeah, you're right. That singing's enough to make the dead want to plug their ears. Very well…" He took off his skull, rolled it around in his hand and said, "I'll give them an even bigger headache!" His body wound up like an All-Star baseball pitcher and threw his head right at my captors. He let out a banshee shriek that pierced the night like a storm of arrows.

However, this shriek alerted Lock and Shock to his plan. They quickly pulled up, jerking me up with them. Jack collided full into my side, sinking his teeth into the rope to stabilize himself. He shook his head, trying to rip the rope apart.

Lock looked behind him and caught Jack in his rescue attempt. He threw his axe down at him, unfortunately hitting its mark perfectly. Jack's skull fell down to the waiting arms of his body. As Jack reaffixed his skull, he laughed and said, "Now _that_ was a headache!"

The axe Lock threw stayed with me; I had caught it with my teeth after it had bounced off Jack. I positioned it and prepared to cut the rope constricting my ribcage. I tilted my head back and threw it forward, bringing the axe down. The rope frayed a little bit, so I continued to hack at it. My teeth nearly cracked with every chop.

I threw everything into that final chop, splitting the rope but lodging the axe in my breast bone. My rope cocoon fell apart rapidly, enough so that I could tear my arm out of it. Using this free arm, I tore apart the ropes to release myself. I crawled out of the mass of rope, still clinging to the bundle like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon.

I looked up with contempt at my two captors. They were both concentrating on their flying. As my fingers tightened around the ropes, my brain hatched an idea.

I hooked my feet within the rope mass and climbed up the single ropes cautiously, careful not to fall off or release the ball from my feet. When I had climbed high enough, I let go of the ropes and fell with the rope ball. The weight of it and the velocity of its fall pulled the two ropes that I had climbed up taught, along with where these ropes were anchored: the pouches on the gargoyles.

Determined to stay airborne against their burden, the two of them flew straight up as hard as they could; all for naught. The two Heartless were pulled onto their sides abruptly, still on their straight-up flight path. Unable to regain control over their frantic mounts, Lock and Shock screamed in terror as they were flattened between their confused mounts. Both of the gargoyles and their riders started to plummet.

I quickly skedaddled up the ropes again, the axe held in my teeth. 'I feel like a pirate,' I happily thought to myself. I climbed onto Lock's gargoyle and kicked him off while he was still stunned. I sliced the rope still anchored to the gargoyle and took hold of its reigns.

Shock cut her rope with her knife as well, quicker to recover than her brother. She reigned in her gargoyle and angrily glared at me. "That was a dirty trick!" she screamed.

I smiled my skeletal grin and replied, "No need to get jealous now, Shock, even the student has surpassed the 'masters'." I turned my gargoyle away from her and flew off laughing. She gritted her teeth and followed.

Back on the ground, Barrel was just shaking off the effects of my attack. He sat up in his crater, rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh, what happened last night?" he groaned. He looked around groggily, his weary eyes sweeping along the gates. He looked up into the sky and rubbed his eyes. Were they deceiving him, or were two of his comrades' gargoyles attacking each other?

It took him a while for his brain to register it, but he finally exclaimed, "That Heilmann kid's commandeered one of our gargoyles!" Unfortunately, he didn't know which one. Even so, he drew a slingshot from his pocket and loaded it with a marble from his pocket. This was no ordinary marble, however. Within its small glass casing a thunderbolt bounced around. Barrel leveled the slingshot at the second gargoyle, the one chasing the other, and fired.

"I hope this doesn't come as a shock…" Barrel sniggered as he watched his projectile fly.

As I flew through the air with the wind brushing past me, I looked behind me. Sure enough, Lock and Shock were still on my tail, flailing their weapons in the air like a pair of mad barbarians. I knew I had to lose them; I just didn't know how. I turned around again and regained concentration on the sky ahead of me.

Suddenly, I heard a clap of thunder and the sizzle of frying bacon behind me. I halted my gargoyle and turned it around. Lock, Shock, and their gargoyle had been hit with a thunderbolt and were now feeling the force of it. Electricity coursed through all of them, lighting them up like a Christmas tree. The gargoyle got shocked so badly that it vanished in a patch of black smoke. Lock and Shock started to fall to the ground rapidly, screaming in pain and fear.

I sniggered to myself as I thought of one final insult. I took out the axe again and threw it like a boomerang at the two falling freaks. The axe blade caught them by the holes it ripped in their clothing, dragging them down faster. They screamed even louder the whole way down. Barrel screamed too, since they were flying on a collision course straight towards him! He was paralyzed with fear, unable to move from the spot. I almost felt sorry for him, for all three of them, as they collapsed in a heap and being buried in the hole that I had made for Barrel.

I haughtily shook off this pity and flew straight at them. The wind rushed past my bony face faster than a stampede as I descended, shrieking through the hollows between my bones. A smile curled my cheek bones as I drew close. When I was about to crash into them, I pulled up slightly. I hovered over them for a second before I slammed the gargoyle right on top of them.

I stepped off of the gargoyle and looked around. The gate was slowly receding back into the cobblestones. I walked to my sword, picked it up, and sheathed it in my hip bone. My friends ran into the arena, eager to know how I was. I assured them that I was okay. A little winded, maybe, but I was okay.

I had other business to attend to as well. I turned away from them and towards the gargoyle. I stuck out a finger and tickled the gargoyle under its chin. The gargoyle sat up and pounded its rear foot like a puppy getting its ears scratched. While I was doing this, my other hand was thrust right into the gargoyle's chest, fingers outstretched and spread wide. They curled around a hard object I felt in there and ripped it out. The gargoyle froze on the spot, a look of surprise exposing its last emotion. Before my eyes, it solidified into a stone statue. That solved the Lock, Shock, and Barrel problem in this town.

I shifted my gaze from the gargoyle to the object I tore from it. The object was another black heart. My companions looked at it strangely and confusedly. "I thought that the Heartless were… well, heartless," Goofy said.

"Yeah," Donald added. "Why would this one have a heart, even if it was turned to the darkness?"

"I don't know," I replied, just as baffled as they were. "But I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later."

"So why not start now? We've got an adventure to go on!" Jack happily cried.

"Yeah, except you're forgetting one thing," I reminded him, holding up a bony finger. "How are we going to find Maleficent or anyone else tied into her plot for that matter? Aren't we stranded here?"

"Nope," Goofy replied with a laugh. "How do you think Donald and I got here?"

I was stumped by that, too.

"Just follow us and you'll find out." Goofy and Donald led Jack and me back through Halloween Town, leading us back into the pumpkin patch. We carefully stepped around the jack-o'-lanterns scattered throughout it before we reached the huge pumpkin where I had seen my first two gargoyles. Goofy and Donald led us to the other side of this pumpkin.

Something else was behind there aside from a huge jack-o'-lantern's face. A large spacecraft sat on its landing gear. The whole thing looked like a house made of blocks, almost. Two engines were mounted on the back of a cube with two surfboard-like wings protruding from the sides. A cylindrical suspension system stabilized the wings and helped to connect them to the main cube. Sticking out of the front was a diamond-shaped prism that formed to a point at the end. Half of the point on the end was made of glass; the other half looked like a door of some kind. This glass part must have been the control center.

Donald took out a button from his vest and pressed it. Instantly, the door half of the point folded downwards and sank into the soft dirt about an inch. Donald led us around the ship towards the opening. A quick peek revealed a pair of large boilers on either side of the long room, leaving a walkway between them. Several gloved hands on mechanical arms were hanging down from the room above. Donald led us between the boilers to a ladder on the far wall that led up to a hatch. We briskly climbed up the ladder, allowing Donald to open the hatch and lead us up to the next floor.

On this floor, there was a lot more room to move around. Four seats were situated near the front wall, where the glass windshield took up most of the room. Donald and Goofy each seated themselves at one or the other of these chairs. Jack and I picked the two behind them, both of them with a decent view of what was ahead of us. Portholes allowed views of our port and starboard sides.

"Welcome to the Gummi Ship," Goofy announced.

"Please keep your seatbelts fastened at all times while the ship is in motion," Donald added. He pressed a button on the control panel, and a seatbelt snaked its way across our chests and clicked in the buckle at our sides.

Goofy pressed a few more buttons, and the whole ship started to shake slightly. Goofy took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read it to himself: "Landing gear up… Entrance bay doors closing… Engines fired up… Okay, we're ready for lift-off!"

"About time," Donald said. He grabbed the steering controls for the ship and pulled up on them. Instantly, the ship lifted a small ways off of the ground. He maneuvered the controls in such a way as to make the ship roll onto its backside. He pushed a button, and the ship shot upward into the sky.

The G-force was incredible, pulling my head back into my seats. My eyes started to water a little as they were forced back into their sockets. Wait, I had eyes again! I looked over myself the best I could. I actually had skin again, too!

Goofy looked over his shoulder and caught my surprise. "Didn't Donald explain world magic to you?" he asked with a chuckle.

I sheepishly shrugged and replied, "He might have mentioned it."

"Well, when we leave a world, the magic wears off."

"You should be back to normal in a matter of minutes," Donald added.

Sure enough, they were right. My skin had fully reappeared as well as my clothes. Relieved with this fact, I looked back out the window towards Halloween Town. It was now a huge pumpkin getting smaller and smaller as we left Jack's home behind, traveling to adventures unknown. It felt good, but unnerving at the same time.


End file.
